Show RAW 0 EP E P DUTTON 1 ca servie SYNOPSIS CHAPTER I 1 out of 0 uniform at the end nd of 0 tho the world war with the rank c ot f major poter peter dewolfe young amer acan ot of wealth and tamely la Is urged by an sh comrade in arms benham ham to visit the lien lienhart harn home and meet the English Englin limano mans mother and sli six ter and incidentally urena drone Sel Sol coss young woman about whom there Is an youny air 0 mystery mya tery CHAPTER II 11 muriel Deni iam Evora bya sister becomes infatuated with ieter but he to la interested only in the mysterious urena Se Selo looss oas of 01 whom lie he has haa had bad only a glimpse Bl muriel uriel urges him to forgot forget hor her warning him that it if sho she 13 urena rena should like him he to 8 in danger ot of vanishing like the others CHAPTER III at lite ills london hotel peter allster seta gets A message from 13 aronn reniL ask ang leiff him to meet her lie ile doos does I 1 ao 0 I 1 and the tha meeting in the formation 0 a strong bond of friendship IV after a 0 f few v day darg companionship thu tho feeling between peter and jarona ripens into love ho he asks tier hai to marry him and she confesses that she Is married and that list her husband has haa vanished CHAPTER V drenas brena s life story la is out of the ordinary daughter of A greek father and an irish mother hot her childhood mid youth had been a strange one hor her father learned hut but impractical had boon beon forced to I 1 leave his nativo native land because of revolutionary at ar fIllat lons and his death following quickly upon that of hla his wife leaves pr ajon et icalla penniless at dallas texas she secures work and at tier beardi boarding n 9 place moot jim Henn hennegin hennepin epin lie he falls in love with her and in hop cef loneliness she becomes in a manner attached to h him jim tells her he has had a call and la is going away lie ho urges hor her to meet him in in st louis brena D rena goes to that city CHAPTER VI brena alrena returns to dallas alone compton Corn hannalee Pan Parm nalee aloo ilen hen employer middle ased aged anti anil weal wealthy t hy visits hot her seeking news of jim who has fins parmalee Parn mlee tells urena brona s intentions Intent loua ious toward her wore dishonorable which she had suspected CHAPTER VII some months later parmalee Par Parm malea aloo makes drena an offer of marriage admitting that h he seeks only tier her companionship and promising her freedom after reflection she eho accepts th the offer they are married at the railroad station immediately following tile the ceremony parmalee Par malae la Is seized with apparently parent ly uncontrollable fear in explanation wan aaion he accuses crena of being in some way the cause of cof his feeling CHAPTER VIII on their wedding journey fournoy our noy drena shows allows tier her husband a scrap r p of paper Henn hennegin Hennep epin ln had alven her 0 on it Is IB a inure figure which parmalee tolls tells her to Is thu kuk ul can symbol of ill 1 bl mayas ayas ile ho appears perturbed CHAPTER IX the rhe Parm alces aloes settle ind wn in now new york ills his nervousness nd fits of rear fear increase but lie refuses to tell drena the cause of its hla uneasiness ne e s ono one night in the darkness lie he f fc e es s a shot at his reflection in a picture telling grona brena he thought it was a burglar 8 ahe j io lie ha Is the victim ot of some secret overwhelming fear CHAPTER X unable to purchase chase a painting inting of bronn brona by n famous failous artist br t War Pari nalae malse shows irr irritation tat on amounting almost to madness she Is convinced now that he fears recognition either of her or hini himself solf but can learn nothing efrom from him he begins to drink heavily he amily after a visit to his lawyer landrew Lan frew parmalie Poi Par maloe disappears ills appears leaving no word of C 0 f explanation that was three e ri r years I ears before peter and alreno meet CHAPTER XI drana brena gives peter the paper with the mysterious against her protestations and warning against ng of danger ming r lie he declares dec laroi ho he aill go to america and solve tile the mystery my CHAP TEIl on the voyage io do wolfe analyzes drenas story without finding any key to its if rol solution but bul he retains ant an fn ill in her truthfulness CHAPTER XIII at the parmalee home pter peter finds among tho the missing marl mans papers a bill tor for an all old hook book 10 toi loi explorations in the tha 1 desert for which parmalee hall had paid i at the amount he h Ise archos Ren and finds tile the book discovering ling that three pages are missing led by pome intuition he seeks and finds an another 0 ther copy of the same book with the same pases pages mig missing sing reter line has a feeling that somehow he Is in on tho the right I 1 track ire he receives ft a cubic from urena 1 urging him to give up the quest and announcing she Is on her way to america CHAPTER XIV peter takes steps to secure it ft perfect cory copy of the mutilated books chaiten XV obtaining Obtain trig the perfect copy dewolfe finds the pages tell of a visit centuries ago to it A deserted desert fd city in the now mexican Ilex ican desert ilo ho 1 iii confident now ho he la Is on i the tight right track brona arrives at new I 1 i york and to her consternation finds peter gone A cable from him had missed tier i CHAPTER CHAP TEIl XVI drena expresses abject fear that peter like ilka the other two moll men will disappear silo sho learns tits ills destination destination I 1 in remlin wella texas and follows him overtaking him on ill the eve of setting 0 out u t on a trip by auto into the deser t ho tells her only that he has a theory and sho she I 1 insists on accompanying him on the journey CHAPTER CHAP TEIl the trip for miles I 1 through trackless sand land Is in uneventful F athen then thy sight the ancient city alt dei in tho the old volume arriving i there in a heap of charred bones rater peter finds articles which recognizes as Ilen it Is his skeleton CHAPTER this Is peters version of tile the tragedy parmalee guilty 0 criminal inal acts had long been blackmailed NU a by b y hennegin hennepin Henn epin and the cap conceived bitic v ed the idea of luring him into the desert d ert on the trail of an imaginary treasure and leaving him film to idle die that had been jims call and parmalee Par matee in his design the fear that hennegin hennepin Henn epin might have escaped and would woula have hi his revenge had haunted flaunted carmalee through the years J j arl driven on by hl his fears ears 41 A had determined to see ec for himself it if his hl l alm had and died where he hart had left him in a powerful car ht he made the journey to the old city tand finding Hen hennekins bones seeking to do de stroy them utterly by bur bernina ninA he lost his sud auprly 11 of gasoline and perished as MIS miserably erald ly as a had find Hennep norin epin ln his axe 0 ton Is in in his car the mystery cleared pater and urana brans turn their faces to the th emt east and to happiness Hoc Il renit when the three went out into the desert footprints tire in ID slagle file one man to led tile lie other oilier two I 1 will show you yell it to lo in the n record and aid it good guess ile was silent and he broke tits st sl lonce with ith a cry 1 I enn ann sop hini Henn awakening realizing seeing fur far awny away the little I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I can soo see him 1 Honn awaken ins ing realizing specks in the pale moonlight with tile the treacherous man upon ohp alip louder leader a tiny bobbing figure I 1 can hear the curses hurled after them anil and he be tho ono one left alone under the moot moon alone under tho the sun suit alone under tinder the lie moon again without a drop rushing out into the desert only to be driven back to the shade after weary marches dragging through the sand hunting among the rocks crazed with thirst gone land cursi cursing tig blitt blistering ering mad his tongue black the end perhaps a thought thou glit of you the curl lie looked up at brona he set tits ills jaw pin im sorry lie he said but I 1 can see it so elearly the terrible retribution in this place of silence 1114 sc rennis echoing lack back from the rocks ills his curses rising into this thin pale p a to blue sky shy find the vultures swing awing overhead 1 seven years yeara ngo ago she whispered yes ives sewn seven years and four years of torturing fear that was the pay of the one who rode a awny ay compton Coin silo said it ft without tiny extern i blan of or emotion notion yes said peter ile he had succeeded in ill wiping willing out one blackmailer but another more terrible sprang up ul fear 11 lie ile feared discovery disco very yes and something else lie ile could never feel murii sure that Henn hennegin hennepin epin was waa lead dead that was the curse upon him the fear the murderer feels twisting 9 and alternating with the fear of a physical coward who ever hours hears those threats those curses those promises of vengeance enge anco coming necrosis the moonlit t desert as lie he rode away that night she shuddered yes suld peter that was waa why parmalie Par maloe dor troyed the map up had probably ridden back to sonic some other settlement shooting Ilen horse in sonic gully and lie wanted to wipe out till nil evidence el dence for months lie he resisted the temptation that burned and reo relied inside to see you to find out whether I 1 had been told anything about desti ration alon and then when lie sure when there kliore was lint stint scrap of paper not accounted for I 1 peter it Is too horrible lie he proposed propose that strange inar ringe agreement in fit order to go away and take me with him lie was norald I 1 might remember some word give sonic clew no replied peter ieter it was that of co couric lirse luit that was as not all the ipnar of arvid imin that tant you saw in him wits iliin piero hi din terror put it out st at last but lae ical ial i al tragedy of Parm alive was ho fie had that redeeming spark IR availed fr fir tier lier to look up again slit she luid had been it tiring down tit nt the yet iel low rray bist 1 I suppose you mn an see bee lie he wp west t r on 1 I suppose you ou cun can aco now what viat wis was in its ills mind two pictures ono was war t the b e picture of jim Hen tiepIn alive I 1 I 1 bat great muscular athlete who drunk drank hard who lind had tile false traditions of the south tile love of death buths the degenerate tern temper per the sly ways of carrying a vengeance through ile he saw him t shaping from the desert brecia hearen knowd liow how but escaping hy sonic desperate effort soine chance some soine isil vil borne way that brain could not conceive but yet vet lie put out iut of of possibility lie ile saw Henn hennegin hennepin epin seeking him yes yea he nw aw lt it n picture n c ln with mi lila his tun licious desperate haunting eya ills his terrible inu muscles seles HP he saw him elling along the alie trail for tits his quarry ile he saw him walking about a quiet picture gallery galler y and suddenly seeing your portrait and realizing that hannalee Pan nalee had taken you turn red with renewed wrath urath which would send him out for a knife at last that imaginary Henn hennegin hennepin epin became utmost almost a reality said hrenn lip 1119 shot tit at him dofice nt at a reflection in a piece of glass ilo ifo kept paul because paul was uns a brute who ho would tight fight ilo ila was afraid would solid send some soine assassin to got get employment ns as it servant ile he never know knew when han hennegin hennepin Henn epin might conic und kill dut but lie saw the other picture too lie ile saw the hovering over what wits was left of Henn hennegin hennepin epin he saw a whitened skeleton grinning up tip ut tit the sunlit sky and at tho the stars larena what lit ho saw and some boino tiny day some one would somehow come coal there perhaps soine boine one lind had been there already perhaps tit nt the very minute a prospector dirty and unshaved or some accursed explorer from a quIver sity wits was lu in that very ery town berc they had bought the horses and was MIS tolling telling of the skeleton and of flailing flud lii tile the skeleton of the horse borse with tho the bit still held between tho the white tecali lie ile might have bitin bit in ills pocket some one recognizes it somehow once started never ends until there cornes comes a hand band upon the shoulder said egild urena brena its as if in it a dream and a voice saying we have looked a long time for you yes 8 there one fear ye peter said marking two lines in the sand with ills his forefinger there were two fears they fought each other and their battleground was parm alces soul it wits trampled into a wallow of terror of questioning of douht doubt do you know brena that somehow soine liow there creeps into me a great pity for him if lie ho had been able to put its ills finger upon some button that would have blown him to bits lie he would have taken that way she said but lie he had tin an exaggerated instinct for self preservation it threw him back from tiny any approach to suicide peter getting up came to tier her unit and put its ills land hand upon tier lier shoulder as if to give lier ter strength she had spoken with it voice too evenly nicas measured to deceive him as to the strain silo felt it had been a n long pull for tier her he fie thought the last steps though they lend lead out into tile sunlight of freedom wore were upon rough ground ru iu even for a man lie ile was wondering how ho he could save lier her from pain he wanted to have tills this surgery over and to have it 0 over ver there was only one way it was inevitable that lie would come herein here in the onil end he said ile he had to see ila he had covered ills terrors by 11 cowardly process of trying to make you believe that some mystery that clung to you was the cause of them lie ile began to fear disclosure lle he feared that lie he would allow you to know in some mad ino moment trient ile he was coming to the ond of ills his rope yes the end of ills rope peter stopped and looked up at the ugly symbol of kuk mik ul can carved on tho reeks ile iio procured a copy of father carlos map a second time lie said ile he had to havo have it to find the way after tour four terrible years lie revisited 11 the I 1 L pueblo cro two hundred miles from nowhere it colled him blin back ile he had to conic como ile ho stopped again looking at brena beenu whose palms were pressed against tier lier knees whose face with its wonderful profile was still held uplifted looking into the vast distances of the desert tier lier lips closed her eyes unseeing like some carved clety who hud been sitting thus for centuries he bought it a high powered cur car urena brena said peter and all alone lie he cattle came and bhele Is lie ho now she cried out tit at last in sudden disclosure of her pain do you know where Is he now she looked searchingly at peters sun bronzed face whore where upon the surface of youth lines of strength had been engraved by war and lines of tenderness perhaps by it great new understanding der of love and life ile he Is here again lie answered lie he Is here do you understand 1 CHAPTER 1 11 I understand said drena brona then come with roe me reter peter holding out tits ills hands 1 I will vill show I 1 you all that remains the record the story written on oil the sand and dust UP lit led her again toward the charred hones bones he found no resistance in tier her look there krena brena do you seo see the footprints here tire anre yours and mine but look nguan on the sand there are othero too A thin yell veil of dust is over tapin they move inove here and there they crisscross criss cross anil and move away they are tile the footprints of compton Coroi iton parmalee lie ho lins has come to stand gazing down at the white sk skeleton clot on wili white te as 0 oyster shells |